Delores handed me one of the drawings. It showed a naked couple smiling at each other. And the guy had a huge display of manhood.

Now I really didn't know what to say.

Then she handed me the other drawing.

In this picture, the couple was fully engaged in copulation.

"I figure if you're going to draw," she said with a provocative smile, "you might as well draw
something interesting."

I was speechless.

Then she said, "It's hot in here. Why don't we get undressed?"

"Uh ó what about your dad?" I asked, "and the kids?"

She lowered her lashes and said, "Don't worry about them.
They are very sound sleepers."

"But," I said, "I don't have any — uh, you know — protection."

"Don't need it," she smiled. "I know what time of the month it is. Now just come over here and relax."

Well, relaxing wasnít exactly what we did. It turned out to be a very hot night in Los Angeles that evening.

And it wasnít just a one-nighter. Delores and I liked each other a lot and began dating on a more or less regular basis. It was more or less mainly because of the distance between where I lived in the San Fernando Valley and where Delores lived in southwest LA.

I had an old not-too-reliable car and she had no car at all, except to borrow her dadís once in a while.

However, what really put a drag on our relationship was that I found myself getting interested in another woman (who was also a divorcee with two small children).
She was my bossí live-in housekeeper/babysitter.

George, too, was divorced with two small kids and Elaine had answered his classified ad for help with his children.

As for Barney, he was thrilled that I was dating his daughter and had hopes of it becoming a permanent thing. However, he eventually found a job closer to where they lived. I definitely missed Barney at Signs by George. I also missed Delores — a lot!

But one day I was surprised to get a phone call from Barney at work. "Don, I need to talk to you. Very important. But it would be best if we weren't overheard by anyone at George's shop. You'd better call me back from the phone booth on the corner."